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FACES OF AGENT ORANGE TOWN HALL MEETING SCHEDULE

Friday, September 21, 2012

#Substance-use #disorders linked to increased risk of #death for #veterans with #PTSD

Kipling Bohnert, Ph.D., the study's lead author, says the research sheds new light on the importance of treating both substance-use and post-traumatic stress disorders in veterans.

"Attention needs to be paid to veteran patients with PTSD, with an emphasis on identifying those who might also have a problem with drug or alcohol use," says Bohnert, who is a post-doctoral fellow at VA Ann Arbor and a research fellow at the University of Michigan. "This study highlights the potential importance of effective treatment for both conditions in helping veterans after they've returned from conflict."

"In theory, a treatment
program that addresses both issues – substance use and PTSD – should
reduce the risk of death from all causes, and this may be especially
true for the nation's youngest veterans," says Blow, who is also the
director of the Mental Health Services Outcomes & Translation
Section at the U-M Medical School.
More information: "The association between substance use disorders and
mortality among a cohort of Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder:
Variation by age cohort and mortality type," Drug and Alcohol
Dependence (2012), dx.doi.org/10.1016… .2012.08.015

"In theory, a treatment program that addresses both issues – substance use and PTSD – should reduce the risk of death from all causes, and this may be especially true for the nation's youngest veterans," says Blow, who is also the director of the Mental Health Services Outcomes &; Translation Section at the U-M Medical School.